Tiger Talk LIVE - Mizzou Football Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz and the Voice of the Tigers Mike Kelly

field versus K State I mean the energy that was uh surrounding Us in the Cotton Bowl was just unbelievable and so very fortunate to have all of that then I think just the togetherness of our football team um you know there was a there was a Synergy there and so we've tried to do the very best we can to put all of that behind us and focus on what's the future going to be but U you know we'll find out starting Thursday yeah starting Thursday but you've also embraced something that you did a year ago and that is the phrase something to prove as as you underscored earlier this week on Sunday in meeting with the media in your weekly session we still have a lot of things that we can accomplish here at the University of Missouri yeah there's still a lot of things to prove you know there's a there's people out there that that have obviously have recognized the talent that we have and ranked us as number 11 but we're still like an afterthought or there's a lot of excuses made to it like well the schedule's this or they have this or whatever they're like making excuses for us um the reality of it is you know we feel like we have a competitive team we feel like we have a talented roster we feel like we have a great fan base we feel like we've got unbelievable recruiting class and a lot of momentum moving and and we want to go prove that to the rest of the country you challenged that fan base a little bit last week didn't you yeah you know and here's my thing my job as a leader is to cheer challenge connect um you know you want to cheer us cheer them on uh cheer my players on cheer our staff on cheer our fans on we want to connect with them you know make sure we have true relationships with our players with our coaches and with our fans and that's what we go around in the community do these events make sure we you know all of our players went out in April and worked on the four Columbia day but there's also that element of challenge where we want to go to a different level you know and for me that's that's the challenge of of winning a championship at a place like the University of Missouri it takes all of us to raise our game you know I'm asking our players if you want something different this year you got to be willing to do something different in the off seon you have to be willing to work harder and so the challenge for us is can we sell out this first game because we got a street going and you know what that would put us in the upper echon of the SEC cuz right now there's only six schools in the SEC that have sold out their opening game of all that noise on Twitter there's only six teams that's Alabama Auburn Texas Texas A&M and then two neutral site games LSU and Georgia nobody else has sold out their game so if we can set the SEC off on Thursday with a soldout stadium now now what are we telling the rest of the country and that's that's my goal I want the fans to tell the rest of the country who we are and I want our team to show the country who we really are it's missou head coach Ela drink with I Mike Kelly we're underway at buds classic barbecue in downtown Columbia back after this on the Central Bank tiger network from [Applause] learfield you could call it Swagger you could call it a v you could call it confidence you could call it cool or you could call it exactly as it is tiger pridee show your missou spirit with a tiger checking card only from Central Bank sign up today at Tiger checking.com Central Bank strong routs Endless Possibilities member [Music] FDIC at Shelter Insurance We Believe Insurance should adjust to fit your needs that's why agents work with you to design an auto all right I'm getting an echo not on the it's not on the air shelter are you hearing Echo that's all coming from here what we're getting it in there that's ech well I'm coming straight I'm giving them a straight feed of this I know but somehow some days you're giving everybody a fe not today you have to go on a run get burgers for the tail game you got to haul something heavy cool what I'm saying the other team I think by tonight I don't know enjoy respons 21 plus copyright 2024 I can't unplug a all starts with I'm aware allow manage the entire her when you're ready to take the next step trust all Flex custom ID withis clean permanent laser ink market and place a proud brand on your T to mark your legacy when let me ask you this because you can't manage but you can't identify we help you bring it all together you can try that that's preparation is the key to success on game day and like your favorite tigers on the field you need to be ready right from the open kickoff SX has your pregame routine covered we've got your salty snacks your sweet treats ice cold beverages to wash them down and fresh tanks of propane to fire up the grill Fu your phom at your local SX station Tiger Pride powered locally uh college sports fans now have access to hundreds of weekly podcast Z on the college sports World Network part of the new Varity the is free Anda blow you as your team Focus podcast The Varsity podcast Network now available for free on the varsity app download from the App Store and listen today from buds classic barbecue in downtown Columbia tiger talk first one of the season with the missou head coach Eli dritz coming up at the bottom of the hour offense coordinator Kirby Moore will be with us for a couple of segments and then we'll close the show with missou wide receiver the native of Island Texas the senior Theo whis will be in the house as well missou Athletics would like to thank its Premier Partners mu Healthcare and Shelter Insurance tiger talk brought to you by shelter rank number one in customer satisfaction for auto insurance in the central region by JD Power six of the last seven years we're your Shield where your shelter hey you can show your Swagger with a tiger checking card from Central Bank it's the only place for Tiger checking open it today www.centralbank.net coach as you look back to camp in that period of time in which you got in uh what 15 to 17 practices after guys got back on campus getting ready for Thursday's game against Murray State just your thoughts on on how your team competed how they handled things throughout the course of yeah I was really impressed with our football team you know I challenged them we wanted this to be the hardest football camp that we've had since we've been here at the University of Missouri and we were able to do that we had two live scrimmages we had four live periods in practice uh we had more reps as a team than we've ever had we we we really push these guys um just to see what we were made of and they responded I thought the energy and the emotional consistency of our team was really good it didn't mean every day was perfect but man they responded when we challenged there was some really good back and forth between the offense and the defense I felt like early the offense really kind of had the advantage but man the defense really came on this last week and a half and I and I'm I'm very excited about what they're going to look like um come Thursday night I'm going to talk about that in in our next segment I want to stick with the offensive side of the ball for a moment um and just talk a little bit about the development of your quarterback Brady cook and you know as you know a year ago there was a competition he clearly won the job it there was never really in my mind as as I watched camping fold a year go much competition um and then you see what he did during the course of the Season through for more than 3,000 yards 21 touchdown passes six interceptions ran for I think eight rushing touchdowns as well and now you see Brady cook entering this season Y what's the difference from your lens as you watch him well he he flew in a helicopter to St Louis the other day which was you know that's new he he didn't have that luxury last year but uh no seriousness he's grown a whole lot you know he he's he's matured but you can tell there's a different level of confidence in what he's doing you know Coach Moore was able to push the envelope a little bit farther um as far as our install and some of the things that we're asking him to do and putting on him and uh he was incredibly accurate throwing the ball down the field I think you know there was a couple of videos on Twitter of him throwing the ball to Luther Burton and and uh obviously Theo whis and Maris and and Josh Manning so he had a really good camp as far as pushing the ball down the field getting us into the right plays um you can just tell there's a different level of confidence in who he is player he went to the Manning Camp Y and your friend Matt Patricia was there and afterwards contacted you and gave you a glowing report about your quarterback what did he tell you yeah he just loved his presence um he loved when he had a conversation with him that that Brady did a great job of deflecting about how good a Supporting Cast he had and really never made it about himself but you know he just really felt like he was a complete quarterback in somebody that you know obviously you can win with and somebody you can build around and so you know coach Patricia was down there with coach bellich and um they were able to to spend some time with Brady and I think it was a really cool experience for both Brady and Truth have you had as deep of a wide receiver room as you have coming into this season with this group Leed by The All-American Luther Burton no I I I think it's an Incredible strength of ours um to have you know when you're talking about Theo Luther mooki Cooper Makai Miller Josh Manning mares Daniel blood Courtney Crutchfield and and the pre you know the pre has had multiple big time one yeah James Madison one-handed catches um he's been very impressive during fall camp but the reality of it is there just so many good players in front of them you know the challenge for Kirby and and Brady is to get figure out a way to get them all the ball because not only do we have those guys you also have a returning freshman All-American at tight end named Brett Norfleet who can really influence and affect the game too and and he's one of those guys that it's really indicative of your entire roster if you look at Brett norle physically this year as opposed to where he was a year ago I mean he's 235 a year ago 255 now same with a guy like Jordan Harris in his development but then you can look across the board and you see that with a Maris Johnson Joshua Manning it's amazing the job that your strength and conditioning staff did across the board with these guys in the offseason we call them the first four generals and it's Mike Kowski our equipment it's Zach Parker athletic trainer it's Liz Stewart our nutritionist and then you got coach Russell and I think those guys just they all work together to make sure we're getting the most out of our players and you know you know kudos to those guys for buying into coach Russell's you know Elite Edge program Liz's uh nutrition program Zach's prehab rehab program uh Mike getting them in the right equipment in the right framework to to work out so it's a really awesome structure on the first floor and that's where a lot of our success lies both SS of the ball you went out in the in the portal and in my mind you had specific needs yeah and you answered those needs whether it be a left tackle left guard defensive tackle linebacker cornerback MH the approach that you had as a staff and how were you able to be that successful in terms of bringing in Plug and Play guys well it starts with a plan right we we we always want to develop our team with high school players and supplement with the junior or supplement with the nil and transfer portal and and we were able to get you know we were replacing guys that had over 30 starts in their career Javon Foster and xav Delgato and we were able to go get Marcus Bryan who's got 28 career Stars she got left Kaden green who's got six career starts and he's got the best football ahead of him you know we went out and we able to get two success highly successful running backs and Marcus Carol and Nate noell you know on the defensive side of the ball we needed to replace some some depth that we lost at the defensive tackle position but we also need to make sure that Maris scel and Sam Williams and and Jaylen Marshall get their opportunity and so you you know we did a great job getting Chris and Sterling web and then you know at defensive end we had to go get uh Zion young and Eddie Kelly while bringing jaki Lang and Johnny Walker along so it it was a both end you know and and thankful to our fans you know you can't do any of this if you don't have uh comparable and competitive nil and um you know thankful for our Administration and our great supporters that they they were able to really Step Up allow us to go out there and do some portal shopping I I want to talk about nil just a bit with a couple minutes left in this segment with head coach the drit says Tigers open up on at 7:00 on Thursday against the racers of Murray State limited tickets available go online at mutigers.com to get yours in this day and age of Mi of nil how much of a challenge does that create in terms of building culture within a program yeah I mean it's it's definitely a part you to me you have to attack it headon um you have to attack building the Brotherhood and connectiveness and cohesiveness of a team um and you have to separate business from Brotherhood you know we talk about with our team all time the brotherhood's on the first floor the business is on the fourth floor um but don't let the business seep into the locker room cuz that's when bad things happen and our culture right now is so strong led by Christian Williams and Brady cook and Theo whis and Johnny Walker and Chuck Hicks and Tristan Nome and and Arman meimo and Luther Burton and all of these older guys who know what it's supposed to look like that they don't let any of that bull crap in and you know if it starts they end it but for us it's it's something we talk we talk about freely um you know right now everybody in that room has is blessed beyond measure and the moment you start worrying about what somebody else's blessing is instead of focusing on what your blessing is you're falling into that comparison trap and and that's the worst place to be so we want to have gratitude for the generosity that our fan base has shown to us and we want to go out there and perform at a high level and then we understand that those who are faithful with little will be faithful with much and so that's what we're working towards the other side of that to elaborate or to extend your thought on blessings and the more you worry about others blessings the less further blessings or future blessings come your way oh I agree yeah you're worried about the wrong you have the wrong type of attitude you know we're here I'm blessed to be a blessing to others I'm blessed that I can buy everybody a GL a couple of beers tonight you know because I'm I'm very blessed by this group of people being here tonight so I want to bless them it's hot in here so they deserve to cool down with a cold beer are you excited that we're in here instead of out there tonight back after this on the Central Bank tiger network from learfield at Country Financial we make Insurance easy whether you're shopping for Home Auto or more our Representatives will take the time to understand your specific needs and explain what options work best for you worry less and feel more confident knowing you're covered visit countryfinancial.com to get started today experience more with countryfinancial auto and home home insurance policies issued by country Mutual Insurance Company country Preferred Insurance company and Country Casualty Insurance Company Bloomington Illinois Black and Gold season never ends at the tiger Team Store gear up for game day with the largest official selection of black and gold gear and gifts from the latest missou SEC gear to everything you need for your tailgate the tiger team store is your store for all things misso the tiger team store is your official store of missou Athletics open Monday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. until till 5:00 p.m. with extended hours on Game Day located at ffield or at Tiger team store.com it's black and gold season at the tiger team store it's time to get back into routine that focuses on you move better feel better simply live better at Wilson's Fitness Escape reality in the indoor saltwater pool detox on the saas or heat things up with our hot yoga Wilson's is here to support you motivate you and help smash your goals with group fitness classes personal coaching and endless amenities move better feel better simply live better at Wilson Fitness in Colombia visit them at Wilson ffi wait for your men's or Women's Health Care at the doctor's office or Redbox R exit and get the care you need wherever you are wait for prescriptions at the pharmacy or Redbox RX it and have it shipped to you Redbox RX is the easy affordable way to get quality personalized care with private online consultations upfront pricing and Loc C prescriptions shipped for free Redbox RX the same but really different get 50% off your first prescription at Redbox rx.com with code NASCAR which schools will take home the prestigious learfield director's cup as the top college athletic programs for the 20242 College athletics season you can follow the standings of your favorite team or alma mater at LD Directors Cup on Twitter and online at the directors cup.com trophies will be award awarded in June 2025 to the winning institutions in all college sports divisions learfield director cup the crowning achievement in college athletics at Mediacom we believe no matter where you live or work you should have access to fast reliable internet that's why we're one of the first in the nation to bring gig speeds to every customer we serve Why We invest billions of dollars into our Network and it's why you can always count on Mediacom to deliver 99.99% Network reliability the fact is it doesn't matter where you are with MediaCom you're always moving forward Network reliability based on the 2022 Mediacom executive summary outage exception [Music] report from buns classic barbecue in Columbia I'm Mike Kelly with missou head coach you let drinks this is Tiger talk heard each week here on the Central Bank tiger network from learfield and now broadcast across the great state of Miss on Matrix live Gentile is now the apparel provider for misso Sports Network check out their new collection of missou apparel available now at gential apparel.com all at binghams in downtown Columbia the next time you're in town for a game make sure you check out Gentile apparel it's a proud partner of missou Athletics partner with the Tigers and the food ma the official charitable partner of missou Athletics visit score against hunger. org to learn more about the score against hunger campaign by the way the score against hunger game is going to be on September the 14th as the Tigers welcome the Eagles of Boston College Murray State in town on Thursday it is stripe out find your sections color at mutigers.com you'll either be black or gold but we want you in the house I got bad news for you what's that buddy the team's all black the team is all all black that's all right who select that well yours truly right the first game and then I turn it over to the to coach Looper and the senior after that okay and then what about decals on the helmet and things like that yeah no that's me that's you okay how many different sets of daa that's all Mike Kowski he makes all of them and then I just approve them and then I get in trouble for approving them so we've got to reel it back in a little bit we've gotten out there a little bit I I love the black m to me that's the traditional Mark ofi football love that um the scripted Tiger has kind of grown on me really has yeah that was a fad yeah yeah okay so it's like it's like a a you know a fauxhawk it's there it's there but it's it's not it's not steady it's not steady yeah how steady or a mullet you know it looks good at times but and then you look back 20 years later and say what was kind of like an afro back in the 80s trust me from experience um let's talk defensively okay Cory baton why yeah why was he the guy you recruited to be your defensive coordinator man I just really felt like Cory had the right level of expertise um and was just needing this opportunity in shot and you know again part of that something to prove mindset something um you wanted somebody who had that right kind of chip on their shoulder and and Kirby Moore had done that the previous year Blake had done that the previous two years so I felt like that was really the the aiming point that I wanted to go to just super impressed with his technical ability as a teacher um and then also how he's interwoven his DNA with what we've done in the past and his humility um you know so excited about what this going to look like you know I've challenged our players you know death row the standard is held by the 11 players on the field it it really doesn't have anything to do with the coaches it has to do with the people on the field and when they take ownership of it that's when it comes alive and that's what I really think the last week and a half of practice man you saw guys like Joe Chuck Tristan uh khil champ uh Chris Norwood dalen Carnell man those guys just grabbed it by the horns they were holding each other accountable they were playing with great effort um forcing turnovers it it it was a great sight to see running a couple of guys at defensive end I think Missouri fans are going to love watching and Edie Kelly Jr the transfer from George tech and and Zion young the transfer from um Michigan State yeah yeah both those guys Elite playmaking ability have have um great film from the past but I think with Coach early's teaching and our scheme I just can't wait to see him continue to grow and I think both those guys guys are going to play a lot and we need him to be dominant forces for us it was U it was tough to see darus Smith suffer the injury that he did during the course of a camp you know it was bad right away when you watched it happen he's out for the season but but here's a kid that was having a terrific camp for you the transfer from Georgia yeah he he's an unbelievable young man he's a special player um he's going to take this next year to really focus on himself and continue to improve another year with with Coach Russ um his best days are ahead of him and uh I'm super proud of him as a young man and uh he'll be just fine what do you want to communicate to this fan base one more time as we get set to close out this segment and you get set to open your fourth SE does it seem like it's been four years fifth season in Missouri don't yeah we can we can forget about a couple of those years but uh maybe I had no man I'm just so appreciative of this fan base you know from from beginning to where we're at now they have been consistent with their support and their appreciation and we need yall to to continue to be loud support our team we got a lot of exciting opportunities ahead of us um but the thing that I'm the most appreciative and most preaching to our team let's just focus on being one and0 don't worry about what's Down the Line Stay in the present moment stay focused on right now enjoy the moment go out there and and soak up a ferocious fero field Thursday night and go play your butt off for those fans and your family back home and uh if our fans show up I know our team's going to show up too finally let me leave you with this were you able to get away at all with the family enjoy any aspects of time away from football this this past year yeah I did but it was so long ago that I've really forgotten about you forgot when it was yeah no we hey our our girls and me we had a great great time got away went Beach Montana did all that good stuff but uh man now it's football season so I ain't worried about vacation I wanted whipping some Murray State butt go get it done on Thursday thank you so much m z head coach Eli drit I'm mik Kelly Kirby Moore the Tigers offense partner joins us next on the Central Bank tiger network from learfield some days you hit snooze but not today today you have to go on a run to get burgers for the tailgate you've got to haul something heavy a cooler stocked with Bud Light and you've got beer and football nothing is hard until the other team scores but let easy to drink easy to enjoy enjoy responsibly 21 plus copyright 2024 anheiser Bush Bud Light beer St Louis Missouri you could call it Swagger you could call it a Vibe you could call it confidence you could call it cool or you could call it exactly as it is Tiger Pride show your missou spirit with The Tiger checking card only from Central Bank sign up today at Tiger checking.com Central Bank strong routs Endless Possibilities member FDIC oh did you get us switch over to Shelter Insurance actually I found a deal online you did does your deal come with award-winning customer service oh I'm not sure does the deal include a local agent doesn't actually say can we create a customized plan that fits our needs h let's just call the local shelter agent for insurance that fits just right find a shelter agent near you we're your Shield we your shelter if you want in-depth analysis of tiger Athletics in college sports the older teams or the more experienced teams get that advantage and Missouri is going to be one of those teams or a look at which Olympic event fits each SEC School the best Alabama we're going to assign boxing you know they've been the heavyweight in the conference if you will for a while plus elephants already have trunks get it I reluctant get it you want the inside missou Athletics podcast presented by Shelter Insurance new episodes weekly go wherever you get your podcast And subscribe today preparation is the key to success on game day and like your favorite tigers on the field you need to be ready right from the opening kickoff senx has your pregame routine covered we've got your salty snacks your sweet treats ice cold beverages to wash them down and fresh tanks of propane to fire up the GR Grill fuel your phandom at your local senx station Tiger Pride powered locally it all starts with a tag identifying each animal allows you to better manage the entire herd and when you're ready to take the next step trust all Flex custom ID tags with crisp clean permanent laser ink marking and place a proud brand on your tags to mark your legacy when you think ID think all Flex because you can't manage what you can't identify we help you bring it all together tiger talk on the Central Bank tiger network and on Matrix live from buds classic barbecue in downtown Columbia I'm Mike Kelly I hope you enjoyed our segments with head coach Eli drinks you know tailgates for the 24 missou football season on sale now let Revel XP set up your TurnKey tailgate steps away from Memorial Stadium tailgate spots filling up quickly give them a call 573 355 9572 or visit reel xp.com for more details let shelter take you to the zoo this season find an agent near you at shelterinsurance.com mesoo they will register you for a chance to win two tickets to a home game during the 24 season reminder that coming up at halftime this Thursday night it'll be the first ever drone show at F field make sure you stay in your seats at halftime for this unique opportunity as the drones will be on alongside marching missou at halftime also the Kansas City Chiefs world championship trophy will be on display in the north Concourse gates open at 5:00 P p.m still some tickets available go online to mutigers.com he's in his second season as the offensive coordinator at the University of please welcome Kirby Moore ladies and gentlemen thank you for having me Mike great to see you buddy I I was teasing you because uh doesn't matter what the day is if you want to find Kirby Moore on the practice field just look Johnny Cash he's the man in Black all long sleeves black pants keep it simple keep it simple there you go um how much more comfortable would you say you are right now as opposed to a year ago when we were couple of days away from the first game of the season yeah I'm much more aware of the day-to-day um obviously it's it's about the players and we have a tremendous Collective group of uh an offensive staff too that work we're working together on a daily basis um and it's just a really enjoyable work environment as the season progressed a year ago how much did the offense evolve as you became more and more comfortable and familiar with the talents of guys you were plugging into play each and every series yeah we probably got to some of the stuff that we were a little bit more aware of our strengths and weaknesses um formational things shifts em motions um different sets that we got to um and yeah that was a collective process right you went through the first couple games and then you eval and and you kind of progress as you go you know the other thing that evolved as the season went on is the tight end position you know you started with Tyler Stevens but then a guy like BR Norfleet emerges onto the scene and becomes a freshman All-American when you have that quality of a player at that position what does it allow you to do from a from a schematic standpoint from a play calling standpoint yeah it changes things for the defense too cuz formally you can be in open sets condensed sets tight end attached U Brett right now right 66 257 and he's running really well had a great fall camp and I think really just excited to build off of where he ended last season and the confidence and he and he's reacting out there right he's not thinking he's just reacting to the to the defense I want to talk about the quarterbacks in just a second but I think fans are going to be really excited to see two really d DC running backs and Nate Noel and Marcus Caroll and and what they have uh been able to do throughout the course of the preseason coach drink calls them complimentary players can you maybe elaborate on that or or maybe just give us an idea of what you see when you kind of evaluate the two of them the really cool thing with both those guys is very low ego high output with what they've done they've both played underneath the lights at a high level um I think you look at their body types right 58187 59 216 uh Nate out in space making guys miss where Marcus potentially right in the open field is going to lower the shoulder right and finish forward on that guy um and that St stood out very quickly during fall Camp what about the depth in the wide receiver room have you ever seen or been around a group as deep is this group probably not no no um you look at the experience right with the Theo e mookie Cooper and Luther and then the guys behind them the glue guys guy Miller knows all the different positions x z h y and he can plug and play um so it's just been really cool to see those guys make plays throughout fall Camp well Daniel blood's a kid that's made plays throughout the course of fall Camp too hasn't he yeah he stood out him and Drew Pine have have really had a natural connection there Drew Pine what what what does he mean to to to have an experienced quarterback a guy that started at Notre Dame in 22 threw for more than 2,000 yards LED them to I think more than eight wins in the season uh what does it what does it mean to have a back up with that type of game experience to be able to watch and and have him available should something happen to your number one guy yeah you said that the experience is really important um he adapted to our scheme and offense very quickly worked his tail off throughout the summer meeting with our assistant coaches as well as myself um you see his quick release throughout fall camp and um he's just making very fast decisions and playing fast and I think that really comes back to his playing experience that he had underneath the lights in what ways would you say that that Brady is a different quarterback than he was a year ago his command of what we're doing his confidence in what we're doing schematically the players around him um he is still the hardest worker in the room in my opinion which is really cool to see as you look at his season a year ago more than 3,000 yards passing the 21 touchdowns everybody sees it from a different lens though in what ways do you want him what areas does he need to be better for you this year is it percentage of completions is it cutting down interceptions where is it I think there was some games down the stretch right there where I mean we're playing against some good D lines for sure but making some subtle moves in the pocket so we can still stay a passer right find some outlets in terms of checkdowns um and so those are the big things that can help him in terms of completion percentage how does a quarterback develop pocket awareness so they feel pressure from coming from all sides yeah game experience obviously there's drill components to it that we can really rep and rep and rep and then him seeing it right and feeling it um and that that comes with time back after this on the Central Bank tiger network from learfield Black and Gold season never ends at the tiger Team Store gear up for game day with the largest official selection of black and gold gear and gifts from the latest missou SEC gear to everything you need for your tailgate the tiger team store is your store for all things missou the tiger team store is your official store of missou Athletics open Monday through Saturday 10: a.m. until 5: p.m. with extended hours on Game Day located at ffield or at Tiger team store.com it's black and gold season at the tiger team store at Country Financial we make Insurance easy whether you're shopping for Home Auto or more our Representatives will take the time to understand your specific needs and explain what options work best for you worry less and feel more confident knowing you're covered visit countryfinancial.com to get started today experience more with Country Financial auto and home insurance policies issued by country Mutual Insurance Company country Preferred Insurance company and Country Casualty Insurance Company Bloomington Illinois wait for your men's or Women's Health Care at the doctor's office or Redbox R exit and get the care you need wherever you are wait for prescriptions at the pharmacy or Redbox RX it and have it shipped to you Redbox RX is the easy affordable way to get quality personalized care with private online consultations upfront pricing and lowcost prescriptions Shi for free Redbox RX the same but really different get 50% off your first prescription at Redbox rx.com with code NASCAR it's time to get back into routine that focuses on you move better feel better simply live better at Wilson's Fitness Escape reality in the indoor saltwater pool detox on the saas or heat things up with our hot yoga Wilson is here to support you motivate you and help smash your goals with group fitness classes personal coaching and amenities move better feel better simply live better at Wilson Fitness in colia visit them at Wilson ff.com The Club at Old Hawthorne is a terrific golf course with amazing practice facilities which is why the missou golf teams play here here's what you might not know the club at Old Hawthorne is a community with a welcoming environment that's a perfect fit for an active lifestyle golf tennis pickle ball swimming and a fitness center with classes all at one club the club at Old Hawthorne visit Old hawthorne.com to learn more or schedule a tour I'm Mike Kelly the voice of the Missouri Tigers how much do I love old Hawthorne I live here it's game day Tigers score a touchdown this fall with fast checkins short security lines and non-stop flights on American Airlines from right here in colia whether you're traveling for the next big game or a quick getaway Columbia Regional Airport get you their easier and without the drive take the home deal advantage to the skies at fly.com Columbia Regional Airport there sooner home [Music] faster tiger talk from buds classic barbecue on 9th Street in D Columbia I'm Mike Kelly welcome back to the show coming up in our next segment missou wide receiver Theo whis will be in the building hey remember fans tickets and parking passes to all missou football home games are delivered to your mobile device download the missou Tigers mobile app log into your ticket account then manage and download your tickets from there be sure to download your tickets before arriving at Memorial Stadium to reduce wait times at the gates for more information step-by-step instructions go to mutigers.com Kirby more is alongside tigers and the Murray State Racers coming up this Thursday at 7 our broad coverage begins at 5: here on the Central Bank tiger Network let's go back when did you fall in love with this game wind did football capture the heart of Kirby Moore oh man that was an early age I think uh my dad left a football practice for me being born right first my birthday was August 23rd just recently happy birthday thank you thank you and uh yeah just that gradual process grew up around the Game t- Boy ball boy um and never really necessarily thought of the college game at the time I thought High School football and prer high school the big time that's where it was at and had a good experience in college and some of those guys influenced probably me getting into college football the relationship with your brother obviously he's been around the game for a long time now at the Philadelphia Eagles how much time do you guys get during the course of the year just to pick each other's brain maybe talk a little bit about the game when you're not catching up on the family good amount of time we talk probably twice a week and and some of it is is we're just sending Clips back and forth right clips from the NFL clips from college some some fit some don't fit um it's a little bit of a different game with the hash marks um and then we talk at night you know naturally with our with our work hours and some of those things so it comes up and then we spend a week together during during the summer there talking family and football right it's a natural natural thing that comes up your football your your father a longtime coach obviously he had a great influence on your life what are some of the things you look back and you're thankful that you had the time with him just everything his relationships with players his uh you know in terms of schematics belief doing the next setback comeback all those um things they had a lot of success at proster high school I think they were in the state championship six or seven times and uh he he's he's here a lot right so during fall Camp he probably came to 10 or 12 practices he has no you know day-to-day relationship or awareness of our guys but he sees things body language things we're doing and and just has another um you know set of eyes for me when you look up front and let's let's transition to this team and particularly the offensive line and and obviously on the right side that side returns with meimo Johnson and kler thas terson at Center what are fans going to like when they see a guy like Marcus Bryan and Kaden green operate on the left side very large size right and those guys have played playing at Oklahoma playing at SMU high level um I think the big thing with the guys up front and Coach Brandon Jones does a really really good job of getting those guys to glue together it's all about chemistry right and and that's a gradual process you look at Spring ball where we at then Marcus came in right Kaden bumped down fall Camp comes back to reps communication and Connor's third year as the starting center is going to be huge Murray State comes in on Thursday with a totally revamped roster 65 new players on their roster whole new coaching staff how difficult has it been for you to prepare a game plan for someone that you can barely find tape on it's been unique we' we've we've watched a lot of previous film with specific coaches on their staff shoot we see Twitter videos just like you guys and um so that's that's part of the communication and um and it comes back to us right what our guys do really well making sure they're playing fast we got to have rules and guidelines to what we're doing and then you got to be reacting to what they present in those first two series some some of the rules if if you look back at the end of the season and they said what defines your offense what are some the things that you would want your offense to be defined by this year attacking taking care of the ball being explosive and winning situational football right you look at the Red Zone that's one area for us last year we scored at a high level 97% but Red Zone touchdowns was too low those were some different things that we worked on in terms of penalties taking care of things we can control and then execution on third goal opportunities well that's something you attacked very early the first day in Camp is working on Red Zone production and one of the things coach talked about is is maybe not being as scripted as much so so elaborate on that a little bit yeah we did less scripted periods it was more call it in terms of situations whether that was Red Zone um lockout versus the defense whether that was two-minute team periods where we're moving the ball and it just it makes sure that there's constant communication first from the coaches the players not knowing what personnel groups are in what the defense is presenting um and it gives us a lot of learning opportunities too speaking of learning opportunities this is the the first year in college football that the helmet communication will be uh alive and well and available for a player on offense and a player on defense you can communicate with that player until 15 seconds left on the play clock how have you tried to prepare Brady for this opportunity in this new uh this new thing that's coming to college football yeah we started in Spring ball and there's some trial and error you go through the summer fall Camp right the play clock goes on and we got until 15 seconds so everyone's got their own way of of getting the play call in whether it's signals huddle um and hopefully through that right with that ability to communicate you give some tips and reminders and help him play Fast yeah I think one of the classic examples last year was was Kevin oconor the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings with Joshua do the week that he was signed and basically hey look here look there how elaborate can you be with your quarterback in terms of pre- snap reads going to the line of scrimmage I think there's a fine line you look at where college football at there's a a lot of Disguise by the defense so if there's little things or within the read hey here's an alert here um at the same time we got a lot of confidence in Brady and he's on the field seeing it firsthand so I just want to be there as as a a natural um extra voice for in certain situations it's great to see you have a terrific season thank you m z you that's Kirby Moore I'm Mike Kelly Theo whis next on the Central Bank tiger network from learfield some days you hit snooze but not today today you have to go on a run to get burgers for the tailgate you've got to haul something heavy a cooler stocked with Bud Light you've got beer and football nothing is hard until the other team scores Bud lay easy to drink easy to enjoy enjoy responsibly 21 plus copyright 2024 anheiser Bush Bud Light beer St Louis Missouri the most powerful ideas come from understanding by asking 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native of Allen Texas please welcome wide receiver Theo whis I appreciate that I appreciate that hey let me let me let me share a story that I was told after to the Kansas State game you remember the Kansas State game by the way if you were on the field afterwards say yes thought so um here was a story shared by a neighbor he and his young son at the time maybe seven or eight follow the rest of the fans onto the field after Harrison M strikes from 60 plus yards to give M the win there's bedum as you know guess who they encountered right away Theo whis and guess what Theo did let's take a picture took a young picture with this young man and he made a missou fan for life I guarantee it so thank you you had some moments last year that your team got to celebrate didn't you yeah just a couple of them yeah just a couple of them how much confidence does this team come into this season with a lot of confidence you know we put in all the hard work you know and you know hard work pays off so we definitely going in all the way confident just because we put that work in but yet still something to prove without a doubt elaborate on that you know just around the world nobody really respects maou and that's cool you know we like it like that just cuz we're going to go out there and just prove everything we already know one of the things that I thought that this football team did a year ago is in moments when you had opportunities to take advantage of a springboard to continue to build momentum throughout the rest of the season whether it be Kansas State whether it be fourth and 17 against Florida as an example you took advantage of it what's what allows athletes to be able to execute in difficult moments like that preparation I'll say I think coach drinks does a great job you know simulating those situations in practice a lot so when we get to that situation in the game you know it's just like second nature When you entered camp this year was there was there what was your thought knowing that this is your last college football season um for me I I'm going go out there and just give everything I can to my teammates was it easier to prepare in terms of was there more jump in your step knowing that this is let's run it back this is the last AR yeah definitely you know cuz there's no more doovers yeah so yeah it definitely was it was a level of excitement as I watched your team practice throughout the course of the preseason I was impressed with the display of and I'm going to use the word professionalism because it was come to work do your job get better get ready for the next day internally what has built that culture to allow that to happen on a daily basis just the standard you know just the standard that the leaders have set we we know we know how good we are you know and we definitely have that confidence especially comes from coach drink as well too just the standard he has set that we follow so it just it just comes from all our our preparation you you talked about the leaders who are the leaders of this team who are the leaders that you even look up to we got a lot um the captains go you know as un said but we have a lot of leaders in in every position room that's what that's what's crazy about this team you know it's it's it's easy to follow somebody cuz you know it's a team full of leaders as most people know you transferred from the University of Oklahoma and a year ago in this program we talked about your relationship with CD lamp CD lamp just got paid my friend I know I I text when you saw that number what' you do what was your reaction I did 10 push-ups just like the right 10 push-ups you know it's 10 to get in so I just you know I just knocked out a quick 10 you know it was just a motivation but that's you know I was I was happy for him you know it's well deserved he's worked for it he's earned it so yeah I was happy for him definitely your communication with him and and and obviously you have to have a certain amount of talent to get to that level but you also have to have a certain amount of Drive what are the things that he's told you about the secret or the key to getting to that next level just you know come in every day be you be consistent you know always be opening to learn you know you just once you stop learning that's when you just when everything goes wrong so just be me and just stay consistent and just keep put my head down and work I I want to talk about your team in just a second but I want to talk about you for for just a moment as well um what has Columbia Missouri come to mean to Theo whis in just over little more than a year of being here on the scene I was say this is my home you know I it's a lot of love here and I love being here so it's definitely my home I I talked about the excitement level that you have coming onto the field particularly with a soldout stadium a chance to make it six cons consecutive sellouts against Murray State what what what does that mean to players um we just just having the the city the community you know all the fans just having everybody behind us it just gives us an extra sense of motivation to just go out there and do it for the city do does it seem like it's also kind of a reward for your hard work seeing that the fans have responded and built a bond with this team 100% cuz we we we be sweating in those bleaches all the time when yall not there so we would love to have y'all fill it out when you look around your room in the wide receiver room you've got Luther bton III obviously a preseason All-American candidate you've got mie Cooper who been here for a significant amount of time yourself with a lot of experience as well and then you look at some of the other guys that don't get talked about a lot a iy like a maai Miller that just goes out and kind of makes plays and you know Daniel blood and you know guys like Joshua Manning what is the thing that I think would frame that room for if you had to describe it how would you describe the the amount of talent in that room and and and the goals that you've set internally inside that room I would definitely say we're a unique room 100% like we all feed off each other but it all starts with Coach peeler if I'm being 100% you know just the standard that he holds on us keeping us focused on the little things you know never getting too high never getting too low and then just like like I said just staying consistent and always competing what don't people outside that locker room know about the drive that's inside this locker room honestly uh I don't know the exact number how many people on the team but I promise you we all have the same goal of winning Natty and just like it's that like that's our goal and that's what we working for God gives you a certain amount of time to play this great sport when that time is over what will Theo whis do with his life I will be an offensive coordinator somewhere averaging about 65 points a game what type of offense will you employ air raid air raid premium on the quarterback premium on a number of wide receivers on the field as well why the air rate I just like getting Playmakers the ball um as you look ahead to to Thursday night um and again a team that you you have no film on because of the 65 new players on the roster how do you prepare how do how do you get ready and for the different looks you may see from from a defensive standpoint from them you know just try to watch as much um old film or where the previous DC was at first you kind of sort of you'll get an idea there but you know at the end of the day it's all on us you know we we trust the coach to put us in a good situation we just got to go out there and execute I want to close with your description on a couple of guys first of all Marcus Carol and Nate Noel what do they bring to your football team an explosive Run game what about Brady cook what have you seen from him from a leadership standpoint and from a developmental standpoint over the course of the last six months you you just going to be able I just I don't want it to be a surprise to everybody but I just I just want I just can't wait to see his work so like everybody see how hard he worked we can't wait to see your work show on Thursday night you and your teammates it's great to see you man thanks for being a tiger that is Theo whis he is the native of Allen Texas where's number one tigers in Murray State coming up this Thursday evening at foro field in Columbia limited tickets available go online to M tigers.com to get yours pick up your tickets for the Buffalo game as well thanks for listening to Tiger talk and watching on the Central Bank tiger network from learfield [Applause] you've been listening to Tiger talk presented by buds classic barbecue located on 9th Street in downtown columia also brought to you by